


summer boys

by chariseuma



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: F/M, Hansol as Dante, M/M, Seungkwan as Ari
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 16:09:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8167946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chariseuma/pseuds/chariseuma
Summary: One boring summer in 1987, Seungkwan met Hansol at the Town pool.Since then, summer did not seem to be boring anymore.





	

Summer.

What first comes to your mind when you think of summer? Is it the beach? Perhaps, the merry tinkle of ice cream trucks as it passes by? For me, it means freedom. To finally be free from school and people.

It was not that I did not do well in school, it was just that I hated following the rules.

So, when the last school bell rang, I immediately knew what I was going to do. I would get out from the horrible school uniform (god, I hated it so much) and lay down naked on my bed, enjoying the first few hours before Freedom Season.

It was what I really did.

On the first day of summer in 1987, I walked around the house with only my pants on. I was waiting for the water to boil when my mom walked in on me bobbing my head to the latest mainstream song that was playing on the radio.

She had a few envelopes on her hand, and stopped to stare at me .

“Seungkwan?”

“Mm?”

“Put some clothes on.”

“I will, mom.”

She sat down at the small wooden table. Our family was not rich, but we were not poor either. Although the table was painted horribly, I loved it because my dad was the one who build it. It was probably the only thing that was left of dad in our single storey house. Mainly because mom thought it would be a hassle to waste money to buy a new table.

My dad died a few months after I was born, which meant I never really have a male role model at home. Having all women in the house never really mattered to me, but it was how the kids in school see it. I was often teased for being the only boy in the house. Not that I mind, honestly. But sometimes, the teasing can get severe.

I got a few detentions because of it. I got into a few fights. I knew mom was disappointed when she got a call from the school’s counselor — but no one really knew why I chose to speak with my fists.

“Why did you do it?”

Mom was angry, I could tell by how her grip on the steering wheel was tightening and how she was so focused on the road that she did not even bother to spare a glance at me.

I shrugged as I wrapped my arms. My knuckles hurt but it was worth it. Heck, I was satisfied. I was not proud with what I did, I really was not, but I would be lying if I say I did not feel satisfaction.

“Seungkwan.” Her voice was stern.

I knew I should just tell her but I cannot bring myself to say it. Somehow, I did not want her to know that I was defending her and my sisters.

“I just feel like it, mom.” It was partially true.

“That’s not how it works.”

“But it’s how it works with me.”

Mom was so infuriated that she did not talk or look at me for the whole day. But knowing my mom, she pretended like it did not happen the next day. And I was thankful to that or else I would not be having breakfast.

“What are you doing later, Seungkwan?” she asked as she opened the letters one by one.

The kettle made a sound, indicating that the water was already completely boiled. I shrugged as I lifted the kettle, pouring the hot water into the green cup. I watched carefully as the water slowly turned black, as the tea was steeping. 

“Would you mind helping me prepare snacks and teas for my reading club later?”

She was saying it as if it was every boy’s dream to help their moms prepare food for their friends. I took a sip of my tea and looked at her.

“I have plans, mom.”

I would rather stay at home and do nothing because that was how my life worked – there was nothing for me to do. Sleep, eat, sleep, eat, sometimes the toilet, and then sleep and eat and repeat. Not to mention that I did not have any friends.

I must be the most boring fifteen year old in the whole world.

Mom looked up from her letters and cocked her eyebrow at me. Yeah mom, I wanted to say, I am surprised too.

I did not have plans. I just did not want to stay home with a lot of elderly ladies around me, asking me about girls and cooing about handsome I have become. Some of them still treated me as a child, pinching my cheeks and asking me to pour tea to their cup every time they need a refill.

I decided that I did not want to do any of those things this summer.

“Really?”

I took another sip before nodding. “Really.”

“With who?”

Uh-oh. Here comes The Interview.

“A few friends.”

“Where?”

“Pool.”

She stared at me and I stared back. I did not know, but maybe it was a mom thing to ask questions and then stare at their kid just to break their shells. Luckily, I was a pretty good liar and also, a pretty good starer. 

As soon as she tore her gaze from me, I knew I won. I knew she did not believe it, but I also happened to knew that she would not want me to stay in the house forever.

“Okay then. They’re gonna miss you. Say hi to them before you go, will you?”

“I will.”

☀

There was nothing more pathetic than a lonely fifteen year old sitting at the edge of the pool. The town pool was not packed, and I decided that I did not want to swim. Mainly because I suck at it. I decided that the least I could do was to get myself soaked just to prove that I was doing something here.

I did not want to go up dry, it will make me look even more depressing.

So, I stood in the middle of the pool, pretending that I could swim when I was just walking around under water. I moved my arms a little, to make the uncle on the beach chair assume that I was swimming. He had been watching me as if I was something he wanted to get rid of. He was probably annoyed that his five year old son was not allowed to practice on the pool I was at.

There were three pools here; one for the children, another for the adults and the last one for real swimmers to practice (aka a very deep pool). 

I could see even from here that his kid was a talented swimmer. Despite being placed in the kiddie pool, he was swimming as if he was born to do it. Meanwhile, the other kids were playing under the water, splashing the water and pretended to be sharks, but not his son.

I felt a little tinge of jealousy at the kid.

I was not sure how long I was in the the pool, blowing bubbles with my mouth, flapping my arms under water when I heard his voice. He was sitting at the edge of the pool, only his legs were in the water.

“Hi.”

I turned my head to the direction of the voice and saw a boy, probably around the same age as me, grinning, showcasing the arch wires and brackets that were fixed on his teeth. It was the first thing that I noticed about him. His braces.

While I was wearing my dad’s huge old worn out band shirt along with my brown shorts, he was only wearing a yellow swim trunk. He was pale, unlike me. I was a bit tanned. Everything about him screamed foreign. From his curly brown hair, his weird accent and especially his caramel brown eyes. He was good looking; it made me feel a little bit diffident. 

I was never good with conversing with strangers, especially not beautiful ones. Seeing him grin at me made me feel like shit. I was not even joking. Why would he want to talk to me anyway?

I must have looked pretty stupid when I was trying to rack my brain for a few English words that I picked up from school. In the end, I settled with a “Hi.”

“I’m Hansol and you are?”

For someone who looked so white, it was quite a surprise when he spoke. He was speaking in my mother tongue fluently that I felt a little betrayed. I stared at him in doubt. I hated myself for having this belief that he only speak in English. But I could not help it – he did not look Korean at all. 

He probably thought I looked stupid. He gave me a huge grin; it was so bright it could make the sun cry and hide.

“I know, I get that a lot.”

“What?”

“People thinking I’m not Korean.”

“I didn’t think that.”

He rolled his eyes playfully at me. I was a bit annoyed that he knew exactly what I was thinking. “You do.”

“Am not.”

“Then why were you so surprised then?”

I chuckled. “I was not.”

“You don’t have to lie.”

“I wasn’t. God.”

“I didn’t catch your name.”

“That’s because I didn’t tell you.”

“Tell me then.”

“Why should I? You’re a stranger.”

At this, he looked a little bit offended. I could not tell why. Pouting, he splashed the water on me.

I was taken aback with his sudden action that I let out a scream. “Hey!” It was a very Not Seungkwan thing to do.

I did the same to him, causing him to let out a huge gasp. Soon enough, we were splashing water to each other, trying to drown the other with water even though we were already in a swimming pool. At one point, he went into the water.

Honestly, I had no idea why, but I began to laugh. It was the first time I ever do such ridiculous thing in public but at the moment, I did not care. I hated to admit that I was having fun, because I don’t think having Water Splashing Battle with another boy was supposed to be fun for boys my age.

Despite the loud sounds that we made, I could hear the uncle said something under his breath and I could almost see him shaking his head. But none of that matter to me because it was, needless to say, fun.

At one point, I was the only one splashing the water. When realization dawned to me that he was no longer participating in the Water Splashing Battle he started. Just when I stopped, I felt someone jumped on me from behind, the person’s arms wrapped around my shoulder and his legs wrapped around my waist. 

I could hear him giggle in my ears and I instantly knew it was him.

He was trying to lie down under the water, dragging me with him to drown.

“Hey! Hey!!” I was yelling by then.

“Tell me your name and I let go of you!”

“Gosh, I will! Just let me go!”

“Tell me now!!”

“Okay, okay, fine!” I gave in, mainly because I really did not want to make a fool of myself. The last place I wanted to die was inside a swimming pool, by a foreign kid, on the first day of Freedom Season. That would be tragic. Also, drowning? I did not want that.

“I’m Seungkwan, okay, Boo Seungkwan. Now, let go of me.”

“Seungkwan? That’s a nice name,” he murmured, before letting go of my body.

As soon as I feel his grasp on my shoulder, I abruptly turned around and began splashing water on him, just to get my revenge. Using his hands, he began shielding himself as he screamed for me to stop.

I did not hear the lifeguard at first until he blew the whistle. Surprised, I stopped whatever I was doing and turned my head to the sound. Hansol did the same.

A lifeguard stood at the edge of the pool, with his dumb red shirt and tight white shorts. If anything, that outfit only made him look more like a douche.

“Alright, you two, get out of the pool. I’ve received complaints about you being loud.”

I glanced at that uncle, who had a newspaper on his hand now, and saw that he was smirking. I rolled my eyes.

Hansol looked at me, waiting for me to make the first move. I was, somehow, impressed that he wanted me to make the first move. It made me feel as if he trusted me. It was not something that I see every day, people trusting me. Even my mom did not trust me sometimes.

So I got out of the pool, with Hansol tagging along behind me.

“You guys can come back when you know how to keep it down,” the lifeguard added.

‘Or, maybe, you can come back after I broke your nose,’ I wanted to say but decided that I was against it. I would say it, but with Hansol beside me, I did not think I would. I really did not want to scare him or anything.

Not that it mattered, anyway.

As soon as we entered the locker room, we began to break into fits of laughter. He was laughing so hard, his face turned red. I had to stop to catch my breath.

“I bet it was that uncle who complained.”

I nodded. “It was him. There were no other irritating adults at the pool.”

“Nice to meet you, Seungkwan,” he beamed, extending his hand.

I loved the way he said it. Nice to meet you, Seungkwan. As if he really meant those words. No one ever said that to me. No one in school even bothered talking to me. But then again, Hansol was not from my school and he was new here.

I shook his hand and gave him a small smile that might have looked slightly awkward. I let go of his hand.

“You wanna go for ice cream?”

I cocked my eyebrow, feeling a little suspicious and yet amused. I never met a person who asked things like that. It was different here. Maybe it was different where he came from.

“Sorry, I don’t bring any money with me. Maybe next time.”

A small part of me just wanted to go home. But another part of me knew that I wanted to.

“It’s okay. It’s on me.”

“I can’t, really.”

“Don’t be silly.” He said silly in a very silly way.

“No, really, I don’t think I can.”

“Seungkwan,” he stared at me sternly, as if he was training a puppy to sit. “I insist.”

“Uh, okay then.”

“Great! I finally have a friend here!”

Friend.

What a funny word. Seungkwan and the word friend did not usually go together. But seeing him being hardheaded and insisting for me to go for ice creams, I knew somehow that he decided to make it work.

I just knew that this would be the summer that changed everything.

**Author's Note:**

> lemme know what y'all think <3


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